Rosa Golijan

With flu season approaching—on top of everyday Oh-God-I-don't-think-he-washed-his-hand-after-using-the-restroom moments—we're all a bit more wary of germs lately. Keep the nasty illness spreaders away with this DIY hand sanitizer.

Why would you want to make your own hand sanitizer when you can pick up a bottle in most stores? Many reasons: It could be cheaper to make in bulk, you get to control the ingredients (which is great for those with allergy issues), and you have the peculiar right to brag about yet another thing you made yourself.

Advertisement

You can earn those eco-friendly DIYer brag rights with instructions from Eco-centric blog, EcoSalon:

In a small bowl, mix ¼ cup each of pure aloe vera gel and grain alcohol with 5 drops of tea tree essential oil. To make it smell less pungent, add 5 drops of your favorite fragrance oil. Using a funnel, pour this blend into a bottle small enough to stash in your purse. (Rinse out an empty tube of makeup or lotion to make use of waste.)

Check out EcoSalon for more info on this DIY hand sanitizer as well as a recipe for a DIY surface disinfectant. And after your hands are reasonably clean: tell us about how you're keeping the germs at bay (or about how you prefer to tough it out in the battle with them).